Category Archives: Printing

I get a lot of news releases. Most of the time, I scan the email’s subject line and hit ‘delete.’ From time to time, a piece of news demands my attention. This is what happened last week, with an email about a youth-based initiative out of Detroit.

The email from a stranger shared news about an interesting Collective spearheaded by a 501c3 nonprofit called Grace in Action (www.graceinactiondetroit.org). Grace in Action is a congregation of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). The Collective’s mission statement is as follows:

“Grace in Action Collectives is a welcoming, grassroots community that animates residents, both youth and adults, as leaders in Southwest Detroit through education and cooperative economic development.”

I learned that youth unemployment in Southwest Detroit is close to 80%. Grace in Action serves this very market. This Collective was formed about a year and a half ago to provide this group with marketable skills and help them earn money.

What interested me so much is this: their Stitching Up Detroit Collective caters to the youth in Detroit by training them in graphic design, screen printing, and technology design.

Meghan Sobocienski, the Director of Collectives, started this youth-run, print and design Collective in 2013. The site is worth a visit: www.stitchingupdetroit.org. Not only do I love the group’s name, with its rich literal and figurative meanings, but I also admire the site’s contemporary, hip design. (I learned from Meghan that it was built by an 18 year old – who’s now at Princeton.)

This “stitching-up” team is composed of high school students who are learning screen printing and graphic design. (Get this: middle schoolers are also getting involved. They’ll be creating and selling cards and postcards.)

I had a nice phone conversation with Meghan, who would love for the printing community to learn about her group. That’s why I’m writing this post about it.

“We are super-rooted in the neighborhood and community,” she said. “We started as a congregation and a nonprofit.” There were kids interested in art and design. About two and a half years ago, they held a camp and brought in a small-business person from the neighborhood, who was a printer. He proceeded to teach the kids about screen printing. One 12-year-old participant was so inspired that he went on to apprentice with the printer.

A year later, they further developed the idea, because more kids were interested in printing. Meghan and another colleague put together a business plan. They started the Collective with eight kids and funds from Wheat Ridge Ministries. It was the first of several official groups. (There’s also the Radical Productions Youth Technology Collective, where students learn and provide web site and app design services, and Accion Cleaning Cooperative, which is made up of women from Southwest Detroit who are available for cleaning services.)

The newly formed Stitched collective bought one screen press and a flash dryer to start. The members worked with John Opio, who was from Freedom House, an organization that works with recent refugees. Mr. Opio had done screen printing in his native Uganda.

Currently, there are about a dozen youth involved, mostly high school students. The program runs 12 months a year. Each student commits to the program for the duration and must attend at least 10 sessions before he or she is considered for acceptance. They’re training all the while. Once they become proficient and spend about two years in the group, they earn a MacBook Pro. After three years, they can be paid for training. Payment is in technical products. All told, it is a four-year program.

The Stitching Up Detroit program demands a real commitment. The group meets at least once a week, producing T-shirts and hoodies. They have several paying customers, and while the largest order to date had been for 260, they recently got an order for 600.

Meghan shared that in 2014, which will be their 2nd year of operation, they’re going to bring in about $10,000 in revenue. This money will go into more MacBooks for the members.

The group is staffed with volunteers, including freelance designers. Juan Lopez, a local screen printer fromBox of Ideas Printing, has also helped. He has been very influential in their training and in their ongoing work, noted Meghan.

What makes this story compelling for members of the print industry?

Printing is an industry that’s shrinking. It’s also having difficulty attracting young people. To know that this organization exists, and to see how motivated city students are to acquire new skills that are part of printing and the graphic arts is, well, marvelous.

How far can their enthusiasm for the graphic arts take them – and others like them?

This Collective and its members inspire me – and I hope they inspire you. If you are part of this industry, especially if you’re located in Detroit, why not reach out to Meghan and learn more. Perhaps you’ll come up with ways to further their education and knowledge. At the same time, you’ll be helping to nourish an industry that could use a little youthful boost.

From time to time, I come across news items or online posts that I think are important enough to share. Here are just a few.

1. The New York Times reported on Monday, September 29, that there’s a brand new audience measurement system for magazines, called “Magazine Media 360,” in which magazines can measure their reach across different media platforms. Using a template provided by this system, publishers can fill in their “monthly print, social media and digital audiences” as sourced from independent research firms. Next, they’ll be given a measurement to allow publishers to compare their audience growth over time. A link to that article: http://ow.ly/C48Gf.

2. On the same day, a WSJ article called, “On Madison Ave., Buzz Is Digital” caught my eye. Last week Advertising Week was held in the Big Apple, and it seems that digital advertising is the focus, as “digital advertising continues to take up an ever-growing portion of the global advertising pie.” Check this out: this year digital advertising will account for 24% of the $523 billion that will be spent on ads around the world, according to ZenithOptimedia. And this: “This year, for the first time, Internet advertising will exceed the combined share spent on newspapers and magazines, Zenith predicts.”If you can get your hands on this article, it’s a mighty interesting read.

3. I just had to share this bit that I read in the current issue of New York magazine.

It’s a short piece by Alex Yablon on page 28, and as of now, it’s not online.

Here is the heart and soul of it, and why I must share it, as well as the intro copy verbatim:

Newspapers Aren’t Dead

New York’s foreign-language newspapers, at least, are on the rise.

“More New Yorkers are now foreign born than at any time since 1910. So perhaps it’s not surprising that the city’s 95 ethnic newspapers have a combined circulation (2.9 million) that outstrips the combined print reach of the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, the Daily News, andthe Post. They’re experiencing a boomlet, too: More than 20 have been started in the past few years.”

To me, this is outrageously cool. I love niche newspapers and magazines.

4. There’s a whole new type of Starbucks ad campaign that caught my eye. The coffee chain created a series of videos, shot over 24 hour in 40 Starbucks stores in 28 countries. The focus isn’t on their products, but on connections that people make inside their stores. Storytelling in video, with lovely imagery and music that will tug at your heart.

5. Speaking of great videos, you have to check this one out. I think it’s fantastic – “All About That Ink” by Paul Strack (President at CustomXM) and his team. Hands down the funn-est video about print I’ve seen in years. Bravo!

One of my subscriber survey questions (use this link to take my survey if you subscribe) has to do with sharing news stories that deal with print, communications, and media. Should my posts include items like these from time to time? I’d love your thoughts on this.

Despite all the talk about the lack of loyalty among print customers, I know for a fact that many customers are totally attached to certain sales reps and CSRs (Customer Service Reps).

This translates into customer loyalty. When a customer and rep have teamed up for a long time, a strong bond forms. The relationship become quite meaningful. The rep has extreme value for the customer. Does management even know?

Whether people in this service role are called sales reps, CSRs or Account Managers, here are some key reasons why a bond forms with certain customers:

– The rep knows the customer’s preferences and idiosyncrasies.

– The rep has the customer’s best interest in mind.

– The rep offers suggestions to help projects or prevent problems.

– The rep takes care of zillions of details behind the scenes, inside the plant.

– The rep’s become a trusted and respected ally, on whom the customer depends.

When a rep has our back, there’s no better reason to stick with a printer.

These relationships are often the main reason why customers will recommend you to others.

Management shouldn’t wait till a crisis occurs (i.e., the rep skedaddles). If the bond is that strong between customer and rep, you need to get involved – appropriately, occasionally – so customers get to know other people in the company. Then the relationship a customer has with your company won’t be tied to a certain person.

Yes, customers get attached to their reps. It’s strictly professional and altogether human.

So what do you do, as a print company CEO or sales manager, when a beloved rep leaves the company? Maybe the customer knows about it, but maybe not.

The best advice I can give you is this: call customers (particularly if you know there are long-term relationships at stake) and talk about it. Share with them whatever information you can. Let them know how you’re going to handle their account in light of the departed rep. Tell them who their new rep will be and what he or she brings to the table. And then….listen.

Let them tell you how they feel. Reassure them that their business is valuable to you. Ask them what they need during the transition to a new rep. Introduce their new rep personally.

And keep in touch over the coming weeks and months to make sure their work is on track and their wounded hearts, on the mend.

You know what clients and prospects never ask me? “Wanna sing at our next sales meeting?” There’s that – for good reason – and this:

“How do you keep building your skills, Margie?” They ask for writing samples and references. But no one has ever asked what I do for ongoing development.

I think it’s a question to ask service providers. Whether you’re hiring a blogger, designer, printer, website developer – what have you – if you’re thinking of entering into a long-term business relationship with an individual or a company, don’t you want to know how they keep up?

Months ago, I started wondering how doctors stay current. Out of the blue it hit me: once a doctor’s out of medical school, then what? Surely they’re not staying sharp just from caring for patients.

So I asked my friend Marlene, who’s been married to a physician for over three decades. She gave me the scoop. Physicians take continuing education courses, attend conferences that focus on their specialty, and are supposed to read professional journals. (She also shared that the most up-to-date physicians are in academic medicine, affiliated with a major medical school or research organization.)

Funny, I feel better already having learned this.

You’re probably thinking, “Practice make perfect.” Maybe. I know that experience has helped my writing. But I know I can always get better. There are so many bloggers, marketers, and experts I admire. I try and learn from the pros.

My third skill-building initiative has to do with Hubspot. I cannot begin to tell you how much I’m learning every day from those smart Hubspot kids. If you care at all about understanding inbound marketing, read their articles.

If your professional development matters to you, it will impress your clients and prospects. If I were a printer, for instance, I’d talk about trade group memberships, conferences attended, books and other publications read regularly, classes taken, industry sites frequented, and whatever else you might do to stay sharp and in-the-know.

For years I’ve advised businesspeople about how to work with the print industry. One question I’ve always included when discussing how to interview printers is this: How do you stay current in your field? I know how much this matters in printing, where technology changes constantly.

The professional development efforts you or your employees undertake is news worth sharing. It says, “We’re not standing still. We work hard at improving what we do.”

You’ll make a great impression. Just maybe it’ll give you the edge you need.

If a printer stopped me on the street and challenged me to share my 5 best tips for serving print customers today, here’s exactly what I’d say:

Pay more attention to marketing departments. That’s where a good chunk of print sourcing is coming from. In research I’ve done, data suggests that about one third of print customers now work in marketing environments. The 2 other key areas are purchasing and graphics (or creative).

Thoroughly explain & promote your digital capabilities. Position them in ways that marketers can appreciate. Personalization is hugely important and on the rise. Let your audience know what you can produce digitally and give them guidance on preparing VDP campaigns. Make sure you cover its tracking functionality – ROI is key. Many marketers still don’t know how printed materials can be tracked and therefore measured.

Improve your online presence. That’s where prospects will look for you. What will they find? Start with your web site – do it professionally – and expand into the other online channels for which you have a NATURAL flair. You don’t need to be everywhere…but you need to have an impressive and active online presence. I’d start with LinkedIn.

Hire a kid. I’m thinking of a Gen C hire, even an intern. These digital natives (born approximately between 1982 and 1996) can teach all of us about connecting online, the importance of peer reviews, and why visual is much more powerful than copy on its own. They are your customers (if not now, soon).

Get your head out of the printing sandbox. By looking well beyond your own field, you’ll see valuable glimpses of where you should be heading. How are consumers changing their purchasing behaviors? How will mobile and other ecommerce options affect your business? Look at the top 3 industries you now serve: how are they changing? There’s so much going on that affects each of our businesses. Be aware. You’ll be challenged. You’ll be informed. You’ll be inspired.

I feel very strongly about these 5 steps for printers. They can’t be done overnight, but each is a noble and important goal.

Have you focused on any one of them so far this year? How did you implement them and what’s been the result?

No matter where a print customer works (company, organization, or agency), what umbrella they stand under (marketing, production, design, or procurement) or how much experience they have, they share some common expectations from their printers. I’m not referring to the obvious – of course they expect excellent print quality, pricing, and on-time delivery.

Regardless of how much or how little they spend on print every year, print customers prefer to work with printers who have certain qualities and who handle their accounts in particular ways. They want reps who are honorable businesspeople, who accurately represent their companies, and who can be trusted to do what they say they’ll do.

These are the qualities I’m singling out. This is my list of 10 implicit expectations that all print customers have:

R.E.S.P.E.C.T. They expect and deserve respect for their knowledge and job responsibilities. Whether you’re speaking with a new buyer or a savvy one, printers should never patronize customers or condescend to them.

Honesty. Integrity. Professionalism. These 3 personal qualities will get you far if you possess them, or sink you like a pair of cement shoes if you don’t.

Collaboration. Developing a print job is a process that often involves multiple stakeholders on the buyer’s side. Customers welcome print partnerships that are collaborative. Decades ago, it may have been about Getting the Sale. Not anymore. Help your customers by providing expertise. Listening is a big part of it.

Appreciation of the ROI of print and its place among digital media. Today’s sales reps have to speak to broader communications issues, help clients measure print’s ROI, and converse intelligently about other marketing channels. How will you address (and solve) customers’ web-based communications needs? Print doesn’t exist in a vacuum.

Creative ideas & suggestions. In my mind, if a printer doesn’t make suggestions and offer ideas that make my job better in some way (Quality? Efficiency? Format? Cost-effective? Easier to mail?), that’s an open invitation for your competitors to swoop in and take your client right out from under your nose.

Strong communications. There’s no excuse for not keeping in touch with clients, particularly with an active job. Response time matters. Take your pick (or better yet, check with your clients to determine which channel/s they prefer): phone, text, email.

Forget your daddy – who’s your back up? Customers assume there are people on your team to watch over their work in your absence. This means when you leave for a day, a long weekend, a week or even longer, they know their work won’t suffer or be ignored.

Instant everything. Print customers are no different from other customers in this regard. Fast response to their queries, fast turnaround on RFQs, fast proofs, fast delivery. You name it; we want it now.

Extreme value. Value’s a funny, squishy term, isn’t it? But as customers, we all know when we feel we DIDN’T get the value we expected. To help make sure you’re delivering value to your customers, ask them at the outset what they expect from you/your company – and how they define a successful relationship. It will not be the same for everyone.

High level of technical expertise. Customers presume their reps understand the manufacturing processes they’re representing – enough to help guide their decisions and make recommendations that will ensure success. This encompasses all of the parts that make up the whole: prepress, press, formats, paper, post-press/finishing, mailing and fulfillment. (Tall order, right? That’s why your team is important.)

Here’s the tricky part: these are implicit expectations. We customers presume you’ll deliver on all of them. Will you? Does this list represent some of the qualities you strive for as a print rep? What else can your customers expect from you – and do you make them known when meeting a prospect?

Always a buyer, never a seller of print – that’s me. I really don’t think I could get hired to sell printing – I’m not fluent in print manufacturing. If nothing else, a print salesperson must know how commercial printing is made. That’s the least I’d expect from a rep who came knocking on my door.

Over the years while I was a print buyer, I counted on my reps to guide me, educate me, steer me toward success and away from a printing disaster. They were my eyes and ears at the printing plant and in the graphic arts community at large. They shared local industry news, invited me to paper shows (those were the days!), stood by my side at press OKs, and made recommendations about paper, inks, finishes, packaging, and shipping. They were the experts. I relied on them and trusted them.

I’m sure I’m missing the heart and soul of training protocol, but if I had the chance to train sales reps, here’s what I’d focus on:

Think like a customer. I’d talk about what buyers, designers and marketers are going through in 2014 and what they’re looking for in their printers.

Do your homework. Don’t ever do such a cold call that you haven’t searched for a prospect on Google and LinkedIn, looked at the company’s web site, and come up with a good grasp of what materials and services a particular company or organization might need.

Customers are all different. Some have decades of experience; some have none. Some are print buyers, full stop. Most have other responsibilities. Some are graphic designers and others are marketers. Don’t assume anything about a prospect. Get to know them individually.

Listen more than you talk. It was a salesman named Duncan who taught me this. One of the least attractive sales tactics is when a salesman launches into his or her pitch, doesn’t come up for air, and is hell bent on leaving your office with a job. That doesn’t work.

Just listen.

Ask prospects and customers what they’re looking for. See #3. Everyone will be different. To some, low price rules. To others, speed matters most, or the latest technologies. It all depends on the individual.

Acknowledge the preconceptions that customers have. There’s a ton of misinformation about the printing industry floating around, and I’d spend time discussing this with the reps.

Be available. When you begin working with a customer, he or she will expect you to be available by email, phone, even texts. Respond quickly.

Introduce your CSR personally. If your CSR will be doing most of the client work, your customers need to know this person. Customers don’t expect you to do all of it yourself, and a strong team is a strong asset. Work it.

Be transparent. Customers need to trust you. Should they find out you’ve been hiding something related to their account or keeping something significant (and relevant) from them, the relationship will be over.

Keep in touch. Don’t disappear from their radar once a job is delivered. Keeping in touch occasionally is smart, unless you’re told otherwise. This doesn’t mean that you only get in touch with the intent of selling; share something relevant, interesting, and potentially important to your customers.

Bring them new ideas. Never forget you’re the manufacturing expert. Share samples of great stuff you’ve produced for other clients, or email them links about new applications or technologies that could benefit them.

Be social. Even if you don’t use social media for business, you have to keep up with the popular sites and tools. You don’t want to be seen as stuck in the past. Find out if and how your customers are using social media for business.

Offer to give a plant tour. It’s hard to get customers out of the office, but you should extend this offer. It will open up the dialogue between you and give them more education about your company.

Visit major portals like PIworld.com and Whattheythink.com daily. Your professional education is an ongoing one. Hopefully, you have access to trade publications at your company. You can always access most of them online as well.

Check out your local direct marketing associations. Lots of marketers are directly connected to print campaigns and have decision-making responsibility for choosing print. Familiarize yourself with local trade groups. Are there events you should attend? Should you (or your company) join a group and become active?

Remind yourself that customers need to know about all you offer. Even if a customer’s only ordered one product type from you before, you need to keep customers informed of all you can do.

Don’t let them see you sweat. Salespeople are part actors.We customers like to believe you have it all under control, even if you don’t. Exude confidence and poise. Be positive.

Be a person of integrity. It’s the #1 quality customers seek in a print rep. If we find you’ve been dishonest, you’re history. Plus, we’ll tell our friends.

Be honest like Abe.

Do what you say you’ll do. This is all about professionalism. You’ll gain customers’ trust and develop a business relationship that will help your career.

Become a resource for other things. Customers appreciate sales reps who help them in other ways. Maybe they need things like graphic design or web site development, copywriting or video services – and you don’t offer them. You probably have referrals to give them. Be generous in this way; it will help you in the long run.

Follow up to bids you don’t win. Find out why you lost a job; it may not always be obvious. If nothing else, it shows you’re interested.

Keep an eye on the competition. Who do you lose work to, and why? What do they have that you don’t? In what ways do they outperform you and vice versa?

Ask customers what they expect. Keep notes. Everyone will have a slightly different answer. Let them know you’re paying attention. This isn’t a “once and done” conversation. It should be ongoing.

A rep is the face of the company. The relationship between a sales rep and a customer is more important than anything else. Start off strong by listening to every new customer. What makes them unique? How can you serve their account so that they’ll never want to leave you? It’s about what they need, not about what you need to sell them.

A little razmatazz is a good thing when you’re producing a customer event.

For years I produced dinner programs and full-blown conferences for professionals who worked with the printing industry. With no experience whatsoever, but with two uber-capable associates, I jumped into the event business.

How hard could it be?

Hah!

If I had known back then what was involved, I might never have continued.

Every time I had one of my events in the rear-view mirror, I learned new secrets for improving them. And though I’m now out of that field, I get calls from industry people asking for help with their events.

So I thought I’d share just 6 of my best secrets for hosting a successful print customer event. I didn’t know any of these when I started.

Make sure the program or general purpose of your event is attractive to your guest list. If it’s educational, the topics and the speakers have to be spectacular and relevant. If it’s purely social, make it super convenient in every way (date, time, location) and entice your prospects with great food and maybe the chance to win some fabulous prizes.

Plan your event 9 to 12 months in advance. The more time, the better. For starters, pick your date carefully, noting the following: federal, state and religious holidays; school vacations; competing industry events; potential bad weather complications. Aside from getting the date right, you must create and implement a promotional strategy across multiple channels. Proper event promotion takes 3 times longer than you think.

Leave sales out of it. If your event smacks of being highly self-promotional, people won’t attend. Whether it’s a dinner program, an open house, a conference, or a day at the ball park, keep your eye on entertaining or enlightening your guests, not selling to them.

Be professional about everything. Make your event a classy one. This requires attention to every detail and being hyper organized. Develop it well. Describe it accurately. Promote it cleverly. Deliver excellence. Make your guests comfortable. Act like an event “concierge.” Conference guests will complain about bad or insufficient food, cold (or hot) session rooms, lousy signage, and lame speakers. They have every right to, so think like a guest as you approach your event.

Don’t do it alone. Events are a lot of work and might require a hefty investment, so get the right help to do it well. Consider who will handle things like promotions, creating the guest list, registration, venue management, catering details, signage, program development, handouts and giveaways, feedback, speakers and so on.

Give guests a little bit of razzmatazz. Great customer events have a “wow” factor or two that keeps attendees talking about them for long afterwards. Aim for this “long tail” feature. Maybe you had an incredible speaker or held your event in a famous popular locale. Maybe your program was spectacular in ways that competitors can’t touch. Always gather feedback after your event, too.

Approach your customer event with one goal: to knock your guests’ socks off. Make them feel it was well worth their time (and money if you’re charging).

A successful customer event reflects well on your company for a long time. Don’t underestimate the attention you must devote to even the simplest of events you’re hosting. I hope these 6 secrets help.

If you’re planning a customer event and need my help, please get in touch.

I get cold calls every week from people trying to sell me something. No sooner is the word “Hello” out of my mouth, then the caller launches into his script (it’s usually but not always a man) and doesn’t come up for air. Color that OHT for One HUGE Turn-off.

Listening is a sales skills that never goes out of style. One of the best pieces of advice I heard from a print executive was this 80/20 rule: Listen 80% of the time; speak the other 20%. This is true for the first cold call to the first in-person meeting with a prospect, and continues throughout the customer relationship.

Sales reps who don’t understand the value of listening to customers don’t deserve the business. In the words of a very experienced production manager (and who once worked as a designer for a print company), printers “need to quit making sales pitches and start making service pitches. These days, just about any shop out there can get an Indigo and start spitting out high-quality variable data on it. But showing how they support that product is where they can stand out among the competition.”

Another senior print buyer in financial services wrote how much he dislikes the “flippers and flappers.” These are sales reps who launch a PowerPoint presentation, flip through slide after slide, and spend time flapping their lips.

What he appreciates and responds to? A rep who comes prepared. This means a salesman who’s done his homework on a prospect. He asks questions about the buyer’s current challenges and wants to know what he’s looking for in a printer.

This buyer told me that only once in 15 years has a rep in the graphic arts ever started a meeting with, “Tell me about yourself.” And that rep worked for a paper company – not a printing firm.

You may well be the most brilliant print buying pro on this good earth, but even if you are, there’s a statement you MUST include on every request for a quote or an estimate that you send to a commercial printer. It is simply this:

“If you know a better way to produce this job, please share your ideas with me.”

Only a stubborn know-it-all believes that the way he or she has spec’d a job to print is the best way to get it done. Maybe it is; maybe it isn’t.

There’s absolutely no harm in letting your printers know you’re open to their ideas – even if you don’t like what they come back with or you decide to stick with your original plan.

It’s silly not to ask for their ideas.

Things you might find out when you ask for a printer’s input:

– There’s a more efficient size and/or format.

– There’s a better paper option that won’t cause any problems on press.